Spark of Innovation: Tony Daus

2013-07-11 14:23:20

Editor's note: Commentary's Spark of Innovation feature spotlights local engineers and scientists to encourage Orange County students to see career possibilities for themselves in science, technology, engineering and medicine. Bill Blanning coordinates this feature.

GSI Environmental in Irvine provides scientific and engineering consulting to government and private industry primarily in the area of environmental sciences and engineering.

•What project/research are you working on? Currently, I am working on a number of projects that involve managing our valuable water resources. One of the more interesting ones involves helping a biotechnology firm that is developing renewable crude oil. This renewable crude oil will supplement our supplies of crude oil that are produced conventionally using drilling rigs and pumps. One exciting aspect of this particular technology is that it consumes large volumes of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in generating the oil.

•What is your specific role in moving this project/research forward? One of the key issues in developing renewable liquid fuels, such as ethanol, is to minimize the substantial volumes of water that are required to grow and convert the biomass into fuel. My role is to develop strategies to reduce the volume of water required to produce this particular renewable fuel and to minimize its environmental footprint.

•What would be the most successful outcome of your work, and what impact would it have on how we live? The most successful outcome of my work would be to help my client make this innovative technology a commercial success. The impact it would have could be enormous in that this technology can be deployed around the globe, would be a net consumer of carbon dioxide and will lead to greater fuel independence.

•What about this project is important to you personally? What is the very best part of your job – when do you feel the most satisfaction? I feel the most satisfaction when my technical team is able to solve a particularly difficult problem. There is great personal satisfaction knowing that I can contribute, even in a small way, to solving some of the great challenges facing our society. The prudent and sustainable use of water and the development of renewable liquid fuels are two of these challenges.

•Why did you choose this career? I am not sure whether I chose the career or the career chose me. I have always loved science and have had a keen interest in understanding the world around me. Whether it was collecting fossils, catching lizards or hiking through the local forests and fields, I have found great satisfaction in a deeper understanding of my environment.

•Who or what inspired you to study in your field? My parents encouraged my interest in nature and science; however, my undergraduate advisor was probably the most influential person in guiding me down my career path. In particular, he helped shape my curriculum so that I differentiated myself from the large pool of applicants trying to get into the top graduate programs. My advisor pushed me to take challenging classes that made me a better thinker because it exposed me to ideas and tools that I would have never considered.

•What makes you particularly well suited to this work? My broad background in the sciences and mathematics gives me the confidence to work on challenging projects. I am comfortable with the language of mathematics and applying that to problem solving.

•Where did you go to college? What degrees do you have? I went to the University of Missouri and received a B.S. in Geology, with an emphasis in engineering and mathematics. That was followed by a Master's degree from the University of Waterloo in Canada. My focus was on groundwater and computer modeling.

•During high school and college, which courses helped best prepare you for your current position? My courses in mathematics, engineering and physics helped me understand solving quantitative problems. But I also can't neglect mentioning the English composition, history and other writing-based classes that taught me how to read, comprehend and communicate my ideas with others.

•What is the best advice you received that has helped further your career? What advice would you give, particularly to the student who may think math, science or engineering are "too hard" for him or her? The best advice that I received was to differentiate my skill set from the other geology students. My advice to students that think math, science or engineering are "too hard" is to persevere. My hardest calculus class was my first calculus class. Once I started to understand how math could be applied to do some very cool things, I was hooked.